Basenji is the stage name of Sebastian Muecke, a rising Australian electronic producer. Muecke recently signed with cutting-edge electronic label Future Classic.

Blogger Sterling Hedges interviewed Basenji for West Coast Fix (full disclosure, I own WCF). When asked about his influences, Muecke shared some insightful thoughts about musicians finding inspiration.

I think I hang out with a lot of people that make stuff that’s the complete opposite of what I do, but I think that’s the secret to staying inspired. Don’t be selective, just surround yourself with everything. If you’re a producer and say “I make house music, I’m only going to listen to house music“, if you live that kind of life it’s unsatisfying. You need to take risks and you need to try to understand every type of music, that’s how you improve your own. Say, if you go to see a band or a DJ and it’s the worst thing you’ve ever seen, it’s not time wasted because you’ll know you don’t want to do that. You can think about specific features of it and be like “I don’t like when they did that“, which is as valuable as learning what you want to do. It is important to know what you don’t want to do. I think the most important thing for inspiration is to constantly put yourself out there.

When it comes to art, you need to appreciate all types of art, whether it is visual arts, fashion, music, or film.

You might watch a movie and it might not directly inspire you to make music, but at the end of the day I think it will. Your brain just takes experience and will try to paint a picture, if you have an artistic expression that is what it lives off of. I think you need to indulge in creative expression and you’ll find it easier to write stuff.